A/N: Hey guys! Thanks to the couple of people who reviewed, means a lot for my first ever upload. I've had nothing to do so I wrote up the next couple of chapters already ^_^ This one has more conversations than just brief description. It still follows the original storyline quite strongly but that changes next chapter, I promise! And yes! Haruhi is slightly OOC, she needs to be in order for her to be less compatible with Tamaki and better suited to Kyoya. I never did think she should end up with Tamaki anyway. On with the story :)
Disclaimer: I totally own OHSHC. Just kidding, all rights are Bisco Hatori's. *sighs*
Today I wandered into host club a bit late, but they can't punish me for having been studying. Right..? Well anyway, I was sure I had the wrong room. It was filled with tropical plants and it was beyond hot in here. But then I saw the idiots stationed ready to pose for the girls' entry.
"Oh, it's only Haruhi." I need to ask how the hell the twins always pull off the talking in sync act. They're flawless at it.
They explained to me that the club does a lot of cosplaying to spice up the club activities and keep the girls coming back. Which is fair enough, but did they really need such revealing outfits. Like hell they'd get me in one of those costumes.
"Oh yes. I almost forgot to mention to you, ladies. Next week, the Ouran host club is sponsoring a party!" Tamaki's current customers looked overjoyed at the prospect of a party with the host club members, especially the host club's king.
"We're throwing a party?" Nobody seems to want to answer my innocent question.
"Is it going to be formal?" One of the twins customers pipes up. Her eyes are wide and shining with anticipation.
"Yes, in fact we've rented the school's largest dance hall for the occasion." Hikaru informs her.
"It's the perfect place for dancing," Kaoru smiles at the girl.
"But I really wanted to spend some time alone with you, Kaoru." Hikaru leans in towards his brother, caressing his face and arm as he gazes into identical eyes.
As I was watching the twins perform the rest of their 'twincest' act to their designated ladies, Kyoya managed to sneak up on me once again.
"The girls seem more worked up than usual."
He gave me a sideways glance before returning his watchful eyes to the twins and their customers. "Showing some skin proves popular with the ladies. Are you really all that surprised?"
I wasn't going to tell him he was right, no need to feed his ego. She didn't see what the huge appeal was however, the boys were lacking shirts, so what? They were all quite lean, other than Mori-sempai who was that bit more muscular than the others proved to be. Of course it wasn't an eyesore; she just didn't believe that it had such a strong effect on the opposite gender. Maybe she was the exception, not the rule.
"So was it you who came up with the tropical island idea?" I raised an eyebrow towards him in question. Her attempt to change the subject proved effective.
He shook his head lightly. "I have no decision making authority. Everything is decided upon by our self-appointed king. No harm in admitting that I may have placed the photo book of Bali onto his desk however." He casually flipped through the photos that showed a great similarity to their current surroundings. They really don't half-ass their cosplays it seems.
"So you're the brains behind the operations, the Shadow King." He smirked at the newly appointed nickname. It was quite fitting.
"Quite right, but the king doesn't need to know that little snippet of information." He paused, readjusting his glasses upon his nose despite them not being out of place. "Haruhi, I'm presuming you need taught to dance before the dance party next week. Am I correct?"
I tilted my head towards him. "Well yeah, I suppose. I've never been to an occasion where I've needed to be able to dance properly." I tapped my chin in thought, trying to think back to any time where I would have partook in dancing. I came away empty handed.
"Tamaki is yet to pick up on that fact. Give it time. Would you like me to teach you the basics? Of course you would have to then practise them with an actual girl if you are to be posing as a male host." He shot her another meaningful glance.
I nodded my head lightly. "Sure, sempai. I'd appreciate that. Just, don't tell Tamaki-sempai, he'll insist on teaching me himself and I doubt I could go through with it without purposefully stamping on his toes from time to time."
That elicited a chuckle from him. He nodded in agreement before returning to his black notebook and keeping tabs on the customers.
I spent the rest of the club time tending to the ladies. They were all excited for the upcoming dance. Kyoya was right; I really would have to learn if I was to deal with all these girls. It was when this one girl I recognised as one of Tamaki's current regulars approached me, I found myself in a bit of bother.
"I hate to disturb, but I think it's time for the hosts to switch clients." She smiled down at me, admiration shining in her eyes.
"Oh, I'm sorry. You must be my next appointment, Miss..."
"My name is Kanako, Kanako Kasugazaki. You're even cuter than I expected. I've decided. From now on, you're going to be my new favorite host, Haruhi." She grasped my chin, tilting my face up to look directly into her own. Well this could get interesting. What is it with girls showing an interest in me? Do I seriously make that much of an appealing boy?
Tamaki was still sulking about me stealing another one of his customers after club finished. He banished himself to his corner of woe and was stuffing his face full of 'commoner ramen'. I almost felt sorry for the guy.
"I can't take this anymore!" he cries out inbetween mouthfuls of noodles.
"Hey boss, how about you stop stuffing yourself with ramen and actually help us with the party planning?" Hikaru questioned, leaning across the back of Kyoya's chair as we looked at the current party plans.
Kaoru joined his somewhat irritated gaze onto Tamaki as well. "Does it really bother you that Princess Kasuga has taken such a liking to Haruhi?"
"He shouldn't be that surprised. She's had the illness for a while now." Kyoya spoke up. All eyes went back to the sulking king.
"What illness?" I tilt my head in question to Kyoya.
"Host hopping disease." One of the twins answers.
"AKA, never-the-same-boy-twice disease!" The other finishes. Well at least it makes more sense now.
Turns out she was Tamaki's customer before she moved onto me. But she'd designated each of the hosts for either a number of days or weeks before moving on without a backwards glance.
"Oh, so he's upset because I took her from him?"
"Shut up! I couldn't care less! I'm running out of patience!" Tamaki raged as he waved his arms through the air vigorously trying to get his point across. "Haruhi, it's time you started dressing like a girl. I don't understand how you can be so popular with the ladies, when you yourself are a lady! Nobody knows the truth expect those of us here!"
I inwardly sigh. He's getting worked up over nothing again. "You're the one who promoted me to a host; I can't confess to being a girl and continue in that position. And I'd rather not be the host club's dog again." I growl out.
"She even opted out of gym classes," Hikaru states. "So no one else can tell, unless you took off the boy's uniform."
"That's enough, Haruhi! Now listen to Daddy!" He scrambles away to grab a huge framed picture, which turns out to be my ID photo blown up by a million times. "Daddy wants you to go back to the way you were!"
"Don't go blowing up my pictures without asking me first! And since when were you my dad!?"
"The more I look at this picture, the more amazed I am." Hikaru's eyes dart between me and the old photo. "How could this possibly become that?" He looked truly puzzled.
I sighed. "Well some kid put gum in my hair the day before school started. It seemed like so much fuss trying to get it out that I just grabbed the scissors and cut it all off. I didn't care if I looked like a dude."
Tamaki continued ranting about how ladies shouldn't refer to themselves as a dude, oh the monstrosity. He started shouting to Momma and I thought he'd started going crazy. Well…crazier.
"Based on club positions, I think he's referring to me," Kyoya points out while nudging his glasses further up his nose. The thought of Kyoya and Tamaki as parents made me want to fall to the ground laughing, but I managed to control myself to a short snigger.
"Well, Tamaki-sempai, if you make me come out as a girl, I'll never work off my debt. It's not your decision anyway." I cross my arms and glare at the older boy who blanches at my expression and almost runs off to his corner of woe.
"Hate to change the subject but do you have any formal dancing experience?" Kaoru speaks up. "You're gonna need it at this party."
"Uh…" I spare a quick glance at Kyoya who's already promised to teach me properly, before shaking my head. "I've never had a need to learn any proper dances."
Tamaki bounds over and glomps onto me. "Oh, my daughter is so cute! Don't worry, daddy will teach you how to dance. Then we can dance all night lo-"
Luckily for me, Mori-sempai untangles me from the unrelenting force that is Tamaki Suoh and places me safely on his other side.
"Seriously sempai, you need to quit that. But um, do I have to go to this dance? It doesn't affect my quota does it?" My eyebrows knit together in worry of embarrassing myself in front of all the host club clients. "If I could be excused-"
"Definitely not!" Tamaki announces. "A refined gentleman must know how to dance. If you want to live the life of a host that badly, you're going to have to show us how far you're willing to go, Haruhi. I order you to master dancing the waltz in one week and you will demonstrate it for us at the party. Or I'll tell the entire school that you're a girl and knock you back down to an errand boy." He poses with this smug look on his face. He knows I won't turn down the challenge, but like hell if I'm going to let him be the one to teach me.
I'm glad I only have to learn to waltz. Anything more and I would probably have failed miserably. Kanako was kind enough to start me off with the basics but I would need all the practice I could get. I kept standing on her feet or tripping us both up. What made it even harder was that I knew that Tamaki-sempai was moping around in the corner, watching us with that tearful expression.
Luckily Hikaru and Kaoru go to confront the Host club king on his current state of distress. It helped me gain my concentration back without having someone's eyes weighing down on you at all times.
"Why so gloomy, boss?" They ask, leaning over either side of him like mirror images of each other.
"I bet it's because he wanted to be the one Haruhi practices with," Hikaru concludes with a smirk.
"I think you may be right. But he's way too tall to stand in as a woman." Kaoru shrugs. They really seem to get off on winding up the king and it works. Tamaki responds by hiding his eyes behind his bangs and pouting even harder.
I think it's time for a break, I offer Kanako some tea while we take a little break. I wouldn't be surprised if I've broken a couple of her toes during that experience. I'm never going to perfect this on time.
While Kanako sits admiring the teacups we have on display, I wander over to Kyoya whose jotting something down in his infamous black note book. "Um, Kyoya-sempai?"
"Yes, Haruhi?" He doesn't pull his eyes away from the notebook until he's finished his sentence. "Can I help you with something?"
I scratch the back of my head. I'm not overly fond of taking Kyoya up on his offer; he might add it to my debt later on. "Would you be willing to help me practice the waltz after club hours?"
He blinks at me a couple of times before going back to his notebook. "Why certainly. Would you prefer to practice here once the others have departed or elsewhere?"
"Uh… Well, I don't think we'd have enough room to practice at my house, so I don't mind here. Saying as we do have access to dancing halls," I say but then grumble out, "rich bastards."
He gives a dry laugh, "rich bastards, indeed." Then he proceeds to return to Kanako's table where she's picked out a teacup set that she seems to admire.
She looks up as we approach. "Ginori, when did you order this set in?"
"Yes, it is a Ginori set. You have a keen eye. We just had in brought in yesterday. It was decided that the club should upgrade its tea sets," Kyoya reeled off as he removed his glasses in order to clean them, despite them being immaculately clean already.
"I see. What a pretty colour, it's lovely."
"You must really be into tableware, huh?" I chime in.
My comment seemed to set the poor girl into a frenzy, denying she'd like such items, before turning in her seat and hiding her face.
"It's obvious she knows a lot about it. Why would she lie?" I ask myself, scratching my head. Girls really are a mystery sometimes.
"Hello?" A boy is standing in the doorway carrying a large box. "I'm here with the new teacups you ordered."
"Ah, thank you very much, Suzushima. Every item you've supplied us with so far has proven extremely popular with the ladies."
I took the box from the boy, but he seemed rather distracted and almost caused me to drop the box as he passed it over. Thank god I didn't though; this probably cost a small fortune. It was Kanako he was staring at, but she was trying her best to hide her face whilst also peeking back at the boy.
"So… you sell tea sets?" I asked, breaking him out of his short term trance.
"No, I'm just a regular student. I am wearing a uniform, can't you tell?" He tilted his head to the side in confusion.
"Oh, Haruhi, you're so funny. I can't blame you for not knowing. He doesn't look like the heir to a first-class company." Kanako smiled sweetly up at me.
I look up at Kyoya questioningly.
"His family's business, the Suzushima trading company, deals primarily in the importing of tableware. They currently have the top market share in the country." He closes his notebook after reading out the small excerpt.
"Wow." I look at the young boy in awe.
"Yes, so whenever he gets something exceptional in, we've asked him to send it our way. He's got a great eye for fine china. Don't you Suzushima?"
"You think? I've still got a lot to learn." He says, nervously rubbing the back of his neck.
Kyoya opens up his notebook again. "Aren't you leaving next month to study abroad in England?"
He looked a little shocked at Kyoya's wealth of knowledge. "Yes, I am. Um well, I should be off."
We watched him walk away, and then turned back to Kanako who was blushing profusely, running her finger along the top of the china tea cup. She seemed to be reminiscing and looked close to tears.
"I get the feeling that you and that guy are pretty close." I say, taking the seat opposite her.
She seemed shocked and starting waving her hands frantically in front of her. "Don't be ridiculous! We hardly know each other! What makes you say that, Haruhi? Um, now if you'll excuse me. Take care!" She rushed out the room without looking back. That was weird.
"Haruuu-chan! Did you know that Kanako is Suzushima's fiancé?" Honey says, tugging on my blazer's sleeve. I blink at small blonde boy. He pulls away, giggling and cuddling his face into Usa-chan.
"Kyoya, how long have you known about this?" Tamaki narrows his eyes at his best friend.
"About them being engaged? As you know, I conduct general research as to all our clientele. The two of them were childhood friends. The marriage was arranged by their parents. I didn't think the information would benefit us so I disregarded it." He told us, shrugging off the situation.
Tamaki looked in deep thought, tapping his chin with his forefinger. "I see…"
Kyoya looked up his data on the boy. "Toru Suzushima. Outstanding grades, fair social status. Ordinary looking, but reliable. If I had to fault him on anything…"
"Total lack of presence." Hikaru finished for him.
"And he's faint hearted." Kaoru added, checking out his nails.
"In other words." Kyoya snapped shut his notebook and put it under his arm. "He's boring."
All I can do is stare at the trio, who all seem bored with the situation. "I had no idea you could be so merciless towards other boys." They all merely raise an eyebrow and shrug as if it's normal behaviour for them.
"Suzushima is a good boy, right?" Honey looks up at Mori expectantly, eyes wide and innocent. Mori nods in silent agreement.
Tamaki strikes a pose. "All right, everyone! We'll have to work on our strategy." We all look at him curiously, other than the twins who still seem apathetic towards the issue.
"Which one?" We all ask in unison.
"It is our responsibility," he holds a rose up to his face and opens his eyes that are burning with determination, "as members of the elite Ouran host club, to make every girl happy!"
Here we go…